She looked around the dining room, then stepped back into the kitchen. Moments later, she returned with kitchen staff, to clean up. Then they set out a variety of desserts: pies filled with a mixture of fresh peaches and blackberries, surrounded by flaky, puffy, buttery crusts; brownies with chewy oats, layered with caramel and chocolate; and fresh pear tarts, sprinkled lightly with cinnamon, and glazed with apricot jam.
Adele supervised the staff as they set out the sweets, along with hot coffee and tea. When all met her satisfaction, she stepped toward the kitchen.
“Adele!”
She turned back.
The twins stood.
“Dinner was wonderful,” Reigna said, “and the desserts look fabulous. Thank you so much.”
“Yes, thank you. You’ve outdone yourself once again,” Eden added.
The dining room erupted in spontaneous applause.
“It’s my pleasure,” Adele said, tears glistening in her eyes. She smiled, then limped away.
No sooner had she disappeared than those in attendance got up to select their favorite confections. As they sat back down, Lucy made her way to the front of the room. Then, “If I can have everyone’s attention,” she said, “we can get this meeting started.”
But for the sounds of chairs scraping against the floor as attendees moved to get a better view, the room went still. While Mara led meetings sitting in the midst of the others, so as to encourage everyone to participate as equals, Lucy always addressed the group from her position of authority—real or imagined.
“Very well then,” she continued as the sounds died away. “Given that Carlie is still missing, and in view of Mara and Dixon having . . . left the compound,” she began with a raise of her brow, “I thought we should review where we stand with our defenses.” She looked about, finally settling her gaze on Jules. “Jules, would you be kind enough to report where things stand?”
He stood, then glanced back at Nina whose eyes welled with tears. “Well,” he said quietly, shuffling his feet, “we’ve found no signs whatsoever, of Carlie.”
A hush came over the room. Everyone sympathized with Jules and Nina over their missing sixteen-year-old Carlie. They didn’t know if she was lost in the forest, or if perhaps, she’d fallen or suffered some other injury. They all knew that the likelihood she’d be found alive lessened by the day.
He swallowed hard, “Further, we’ve experienced numerous intrusions on the north side. As you all know, Mara was injured the other day during one of those raids. The enemy seems to be getting more forceful over time. Samuel and a dozen guards are keeping an eye on that end, and Broden and I are reviewing all of our defenses. In fact, that’s why he’s missing this evening.”
He looked toward Reigna and Eden. “Before he left, Dixon and I discussed our primary concerns. We fear the incursions from the north may just be a ruse to misdirect us, so that some intruders might make their way nearer the inner compound from another direction.”
“And what are your plans in that regard?” Lucy asked.
“Well, for one thing, I thought we should move Reigna and Eden into the cabin with Nina and me.”
The twins shared a glance.
“That would leave your living space at a bare minimum,” Marshall said.
“Yes, but it would put the twins under our more immediate protection. So it would be for the best.” Jules sat down.
“No,” Reigna said.
Everyone looked her way.
Lucy sighed. “Reigna, we’re just trying to do what’s best for you.”
“At the expense of Jules and Nina’s privacy and space? I don’t think so.”
“Truly, we don’t mind,” Nina said.
“We know you don’t mind and . . . we love you too, Nina,” Eden said, smiling, “but that won’t work for us.” She watched as her childhood nanny’s expression fell. “You know we adore you and your children, but . . . it wouldn’t be fair to them to have the two of us also sharing your limited space.”
Lucy’s eyes danced around the room, apparently looking for someone who would speak up to the twins, but now that they’d asserted themselves, it seemed no one cared to challenge them.
“Perhaps you have a better idea in mind?” she then asked them, her voice filled with displeasure.
“We’ll stay by ourselves,” Eden said. “We’ll be fine.”
“I don’t like it. It’s not safe.”
Basha turned to the twins. “Lucy does have a point.”
Reigna opened her mouth to contest, but before she could speak, Basha held her hand out to silence her. “But so do you. Perhaps Therese and I could move into your cabin with you.”
“That hardly seems fair,” Eden said. “Just because Mara and Dixon are away doesn’t mean that we should have to put others out.”
“Let’s table that discussion for the time being,” Lucy said. She turned back to Jules. “What about stationing a regular guard just outside the inner compound? Perhaps . . . eight or ten of them. They could continually make their way around the perimeter, keeping an eye on things, and we could have them relieved every—”
“Actually,” Jules said as he stood again, interrupting her, “I’ve already put such a plan in place. The guards got started this evening. They’ll change out every four hours, so they’ll stay fresh and alert.”
“Excuse me?” Eden said.
“Yes?” Lucy asked.
“Well, it’s just that we’ve been here for years and rarely has anyone ever breached the compound perimeter before. What do you suppose is causing this now?”
“Aside from the obvious, you mean?”
“What obvious?”
Lucy looked from one of the twins to the other. “Well, as you both well know, you are the subject of years of efforts to undermine the Select and to bring harm to Oosa. When you’re ready to take your rightful places, you’ll lead the first family of the Select and the Council—along with Mara’s assistance.”
“So you say,” Reigna mumbled.
Lucy’s mouth opened and closed. “Wh—why would you say such a thing?”
“Never mind,” she said, exchanging a glance with her twin. She looked back at Lucy. “In any case, we should know more about these encroachments, don’t you think? What if we took the intruders hostage? Questioned them?”
“Yes,” Lucy agreed, her confusion over Reigna’s earlier comment still visible on her face, “we’ve discussed that possibility, but have had no luck capturing anyone. That’s why I think we should send some people out, away from the compound, to see what they can uncover.”
“I agree,” Velia said. “If we could get to the heart of these trespasses, we could better defend ourselves and protect Reigna and Eden.”
“That’s what I think,” Lucy said.
“Therese and I could go,” Basha said.
“How about Daker and me?” asked Declan, a member of the Select, offering his services as well as those of his Oathtaker.
“Or, my charge, Ellian, and I could go,” suggested Farrell, another camp resident.
“Actually, we can’t send any Select on the venture I’m contemplating,” Lucy said. “So, I was thinking of Marshall and Jerrett.”
All eyes rested on the two men.
“I could go along,” Velia offered.
“No,” Jerrett said. “You can go, or I can go, but not both of us. Someone needs to stay with our boys.”
“Of course.” Velia paused. “Well, since Marshall seems the right choice, then I think you should accompany him.”
“That’s particularly true when you consider where they’ll be going,” Lucy said.
Jerrett and Marshall spoke as one. “And that is?”
“Chiran.”
“Chiran!” Jerrett exclaimed, sitting up straighter.
“Based on my studies, it makes the most sense. I’ve spoken with Fidel, as well.” Lucy nodded in his direction. “We’ve discussed the prophecies. Chiran is almost certainly the origin of these incursions.” Sh
e paused for effect. “So, I’m hoping you and Marshall will agree to go there.”
“And do what?”
“For starters—infiltrate. Get information. But we—the three of us—can discuss the particulars more fully later. In the meantime, I think we should give some thought as to how many Select and Oathtakers remain in Oosa. Aside from the few hundreds of us here, that is.”
“What do you propose?” Velia asked.
Therese stood. “I recommend that Basha and I take a trip. I think we should go to the palace. No one has been there for years. Rightfully, it should be prepared for . . . Well, in the event the twins,” she said, glancing their way, “might want to return to their ancestral home one day. We could go straight there, then when we head back this way, stop in at sanctuary in the City of Light. Perhaps we can get into the official records—”
“The palace?” Basha interrupted. “But, Therese, we don’t even know what’s going on there any more. And the last anyone there knew, you were dead.”
Therese smirked. “Yes, well the accounts of my demise were greatly exaggerated, as you well know.” She hesitated. “The truth is, I’d like to see the old place. I miss it. And as I said, the girls may want to return there one day.” She turned back to Lucy. “I think we’re the right ones for this.”
“Not only do I agree with your plan,” Lucy said, “but I was going to recommend something along those lines.”
“We’ll prepare to leave immediately then.”
“Excuse me?” Fidel said.
“Yes?” Lucy asked.
“Ahhh . . . I’ve been meaning to speak with you about this . . .”
“Yes?”
“Well, I’ve noticed some . . . phenomena . . . worthy of our attention.”
“Oh?”
He shuffled his feet. “The moons. Something unusual is happening.” He hesitated. “There’s a prophecy I’ve been studying.”
“Yes?”
He glanced at the twins, then quickly averted his eyes.
“Yes?” Lucy repeated.
He cleared his throat. “The moons are . . . aligning in an unusual manner.”
“So?”
“So there’s a prophecy I believe is coming into play.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
He hesitated, cleared his throat, then spoke: “‘When the ladies look prepared to align, Ehyeh shall call for a testi—’”
“That’s enough!” she ordered, cutting the old man off. She grasped the corner of the table, steadying herself. All the color had drained from her face.
His eyes narrowed. “But there’s more.”
“I said, ‘that’s enough.’” She cleared her throat. “We’ll discuss this another time. Understood?”
“Ahhh . . . certainly.”
“Well,” she said, as she regained her composure, then looked at the twins, “I guess we’re back to what we should do with the two of you.”
“It’s not necessary,” Reigna said, waving her hand in dismissal.
“No, I’ve decided. I’m going to move in with you.”
For a long moment, no one spoke.
“We’d be . . . honored,” Eden finally said.
Reigna locked eyes with her twin, conveying her displeasure.
Though all was quiet, several attendees smirked.
“Always the diplomat, that Eden,” Marshall whispered shortly before he took a forkful of his peach and blackberry pie. “Mmmmm,” he then said, loud enough and long enough for everyone to hear, “great pie!”
Two moons hung in the sky, one already near the western horizon. The third moon would soon peek out from the east. The cool evening air held the heady scent of pine, while lightflies flickered in the underbrush.
Lucy arrived with a pack slung over her shoulder. She greeted the twins who sat outside enjoying their tea. “I brought just a few things with me for the night,” she said to them. “I’ll go back to my cabin for more tomorrow.”
The sisters shared a glance.
“Welcome,” Reigna said. Eden, always the seeker of peace, had encouraged her sister to be non-confrontational.
“Yes, welcome,” Eden said. “Can we get you anything? Some tea maybe?” She lifted her cup in invitation.
“No, thank you. I think I’ll just do some reading.”
“Very well.”
“You should come in now.” Lucy opened the door.
“Soon,” Eden said.
“Yes, soon,” Reigna repeated.
Lucy sighed, then stepped inside. The screen door squeaked closed behind her.
The twins looked at one another and smiled. Then, “Let’s go for a walk,” Reigna whispered.
“There’s no sense irritating her.”
“Please. I want to talk to you about something and I don’t want . . . you know,” she said, tugging her ear and rolling her eyes, indicating that she didn’t want Lucy to overhear.
Eden bit the inside of her cheek. “All right. Where will we go?”
“Let’s just practice getting around silently. You know, like Broden’s been teaching us.”
Broden, the twins’ cousin and Lilith’s son, whose father was unknown to them, grew up at the compound. He was about five years their senior. Mara, to stop Lilith in her attempts to murder the infant twins, killed his mother with an Oathtaker’s blade. That act cut off the possibility that he—her progeny—would ever lead the Select. Even so, Reigna and Eden treated him like a brother, and he frequently taught them defensive skills and encouraged them in their studies.
“All right,” Eden quickly agreed.
They rose silently, then stepped from the wood planked deck to the soft, sandy ground. Painstakingly seeking silence, they advanced.
When a guard walking his beat around the inner compound became visible, Reigna motioned for her sister to accompany her behind a large tree just outside of Basha and Therese’s cabin.
Hushed voices came from within. The whispered name “Mara” floated in the air.
Reigna urged Eden to step closer.
“No,” she mouthed, the moonlight just bright enough to see by.
“But they’re talking about Mara. Come on!”
“We shouldn’t.” Then, at her sister’s urging, Eden reluctantly followed.
They crouched down on either side of a gnarly rosemary bush just below the cabin window. Brushing against it, its piney scent filled the air.
“But what if she doesn’t remember?” came Basha’s voice.
“Who? Remember what?” Reigna whispered to her twin.
“I can’t even imagine the trouble,” came Therese’s lowered voice.
“Poor Dixon,” Basha said. “Poor, poor Dixon. He’s positively devastated.”
“I’ve never seen him like that.”
“He just kept repeating: ‘But, she doesn’t know me!’ I think he hoped he could trigger her memory if she could just remember who he was.”
The twins looked at one another with furrowed brows.
“When she asked who the girls were . . . Honestly, I thought Dixon would lose his composure,” Therese said.
Reigna gulped.
Eden’s mouth dropped open in surprise. A rush of tears filled her eyes.
“Well at least we kept the truth from Lucy long enough for him to get her away from here,” Basha said.
“It was uncertain for a minute there. Dear Ehyeh, did you see when she almost asked Calandra who she was?”
A moment passed in silence. Then came another whisper. “I know. But the way she behaved with the twins? It was like her memory was just . . . a breath away.”
“I wonder if we’re doing the right thing. I could be wrong, I suppose—too cautious. Maybe her memory would’ve been more quickly triggered if she’d stayed near her charges,” Therese said.
“Mmmm, maybe. But like you said, it might have been risky telling her anything.”
“Still, maybe it’s not right—keeping all this from the others.”
The sound of a spo
on against the edge of a cup rang out.
“Oh no, that’s the one thing I’m sure of,” Basha said. “You know Lucy. She wouldn’t waste any time going to the Council with a claim that Mara is incompetent to act as the twins’ Oathtaker and that they should remove her.”
A quiet moment passed.
“No. It’s the only thing I’m sure of. We can’t let Lucy know.”
“But Lucy supports Mara,” Therese argued.
“Yes, but she is single-focused over matters pertaining to the twins. You know as well as I, that she’ll take no chances with their safety. She’s upset enough about Mara and Dixon leaving here. She doesn’t miss an opportunity to show her displeasure.” Basha sighed. “No. Lucy wouldn’t give it any further thought. She’d just move forward, thinking her way was the only way.”
A chair squeaked.
“I suppose you’re right,” Therese said.
“I know I’m right. Mara will get better. I’m sure of it. Her memory will come back to her. It just . . . has to.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
The question hung in the air, unanswered.
“What do you make of this . . . prophecy Fidel tried to share?” Basha asked.
Reigna motioned for Eden to step away.
“Dear Ehyeh!” Eden exclaimed when they retook the pathway. “Oh, dear Ehyeh!”
“Shhh, Eden, not a word. Basha is right. Lucy would . . . Well you know what she’d do. We can’t talk about this in the open. For now we have to get back home before she calls the guards out to look for us. We’ll find somewhere to talk, tomorrow.”
“The old tree house?”
“Perfect. The old tree house, it is. No one would bother us there and, since some of the ladder rungs are in need of repair, the children are no longer allowed up there. But for now, not another word about this. Lucy’s enhanced hearing is . . . Well, it makes talking openly quite dangerous.” Reigna paused. “Agreed then? We say nothing more now?”
Eden closed her eyes, sighed, and then nodded her agreement.
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